Transition Town

On Saturday I went to the 'World Cafe' event hosted at the Grand hosted by Transition Town Clitheroe. They are a community based group working to improve the town and provide practical action for a sustainable future. Many of their interests struck a chord with me and the material in the archives such as local food. It was a very inspiring and well organised event, good to see local people productively engaged. And while some knew about the existance of the archive, others did not...

Particularly interesting was Mark Rotherham's talk on peak oil. He was very eloquent on how the knowledge of old people has been devalued in recent times. The typical 'amusing image' is of the grandchild helping the grandparent to programme the DVD player. But actually, many older skills will come back as being important in a transition economy. Or simply just coming back in to fashion, like the revival of interest in allotments. I couldn't help thinking that the archives are a wealth of useful knowledge, and a good starting point for discussion around these issues. Listening to so many of the accounts makes you realise how quickly life has changed out of all recognition, even from say the 1950s described by one of the recordings of farmers I listened to last week. I look foward to futher links with this group.

Given all of that, it was somewhat ironic that my laptop died on me on Saturday. The Apple shop thinks it's just mechanical, so it could well be up and running again this week. But it may set my work back a bit... Still, onwards and upwards!